Contractors and Consultants

CURRENT

Bridget Kelly, MD, PhD

Bridget Kelly is a consultant working in health, education, and the arts with experience in policy analysis, research and evaluation, process facilitation, and strategic planning. Bridget is working on our COVID-19 member-led project and provides professional development coaching to staff.

Steve Olson

Steve Olson is a Seattle writer who has written the summary proceedings of the Washington State Academy of Sciences Symposia since 2017. His last book, Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens, won the Washington State Book Award. More of Steve’s work can be found at his website.

Nikkia McDonald, PhD

Nikkia McDonald is a materials scientist with an background in the properties of materials for use in energy conversion applications. Her prior research includes fellowships with the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. In addition to her current role as Senior Engineer at the U.S. Department of Energy, she is serving as a consultant on the WSAS Clean Energy R,D, &D Review Panel project for the Washington State Department of Commerce.

FORMER

Renske Dyedov, PhD

Renske Dyedov is a communications specialist and neuroscientist by training. She has worked with a number of scientific institutions and nonprofits across the country to develop communication channels and strategies both internally and externally. In 2018, Renske worked with WSAS to develop our external communications plan and help amplify the important work it and its members are doing in Washington State. Renske then moved to UW’s Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute as a communications manager, and has rejoined WSAS as an Associate Program Officer.

Vivian Ericson, PhD

Vivian Ericson was a contractor for WSAS on our WDFW Hatcheries review project and is a freelance researcher and writer. She transitioned from being a bench scientist to being scientist in the policy sphere through a fellowship in the California State Assembly. She later worked for an elected official and then as an Associate at California Environmental Energy and Consulting.

Sally James

Sally James is a Seattle writer who gave advice to the Washington State Academy of Sciences on social media related to research. She writes about biotech and research as a freelancer for The Seattle Times, Seattle and Seattle Business magazines, among others. Read more of her work at her website.

Amanda Koltz, PhD

Amanda Koltz served as an interim Program Officer with WSAS, facilitating projects on net ecological gain and pinniped predation on salmonids. Previously, she was a Senior Scientist at Washington University in St. Louis and Visiting Fellow at The Arctic Institute. Amanda has a PhD in Ecology from Duke University. Her scientific research focuses on understanding the links between global environmental change, biodiversity, and ecosystem health. Amanda is currently a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at NASA.

Darin Leong

Darin Leong is a web designer based on Orcas Island. He has a wide range of business and technical experience and takes pleasure in helping people with their design and internet needs. Darin redesigned the WSAS website in 2017 and laid the foundation for the current website. See more of Darin’s work at Blooming Mind Media.

Nicholas Montoni, PhD

Nick Montoni hails from Charlotte, North Carolina, and moved to Seattle in 2014 to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemistry. After graduating, Nick pivoted into the science policy profession, working at WSAS and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Nick worked for WSAS as a Research Analyst, focusing on decarbonization, additive manufacturing, and state-level science and technology policy fellowships. In the fall of 2019, they moved to Washington, D.C. as an AIP Fellow. Nick now works for Third Way as an Innovation Policy Advisor.

Lynne Peeples

Lynne started her career crunching numbers for HIV clinical trials and environmental health studies. Since shifting gears to write about science, she has contributed to outlets including The Huffington Post, Scientific American and Nature, and has worked with WSAS as a writer on the topic of additive manufacturing of advanced materials and underwater acoustics and disturbance. Lynne is a 2020-2021 MIT Knight Science Journalism fellow. More of Lynne’s work can be found on her website.

Melanie Roberts, PhD

Melanie Roberts is a scientist-turned-policy-wonk who is currently the Director for State and Regional Affairs at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Melanie was a strategic consultant for the Executive Director as she worked with the Board to re-envision and expand WSAS.

Diana Settlemyer

Diana Settlemyer is a graduate of UW’s graduate program in Urban Planning. During their internship with WSAS, Diana designed the layout of our 2018 Symposium Proceedings and worked with us to develop a more robust stewardship plan. Diana rejoined WSAS as a communications and graphic design consultant in 2019 and worked on the 2019 Symposium Proceedings, as well as our inaugural annual report and quarterly newsletters.

Julie Wiley

Julie Wiley is a veteran communicator from the Tri-Cities. She was a senior communications specialist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland for more than 30 years, during which she won several awards from professional societies and was the lab’s 2000 Woman of Achievement. After retiring in 2016, Julie became Fundraising Chair for the nonprofit Arts Center Task Force, which is building a performing arts center. She began her own freelance communications business in 2019. Julie worked on our additive manufacturing of advanced materials White Paper. See more on Julie’s LinkedIn.

Research Assistants

Sara Marriott

Sara Marriott is a PhD candidate in coastal sciences at the University of Southern Mississippi studying the social and ecological aspects of fisheries. Sara has conducted laboratory and fieldwork research and has worked as a fisheries observer. Sara is a research assistant on the WSAS Pinniped Predation on Salmonids project.

Fellows and Interns

CURRENT

Heather Harrington, 2021-2022 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Heather is a PhD student in the UW Physics Department in the lab of Alejandro Garcia.

Joseph Long, 2021 National Science Policy Network Scholar-in-Residence

Joseph is a PhD candidate in biomedical engineering at Cornell University, researching how human cells respond to forces from their environments. Joseph is originally from the Portland, OR area and conducted research at UW. WSAS staff is working with Joseph on multiple projects, including AMoAM, the manufacturing workforce, and small modular reactors.

Zainab Patel, 2021-2022 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Zainab is a PhD student in the UW Mechanical Engineering Department in the lab of Lucas Meza.

Ramsess Quezada, 2021-2022 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Ramsess is a PhD student in the UW Chemistry Department in the lab of David Ginger.

Michael Riehs, 2021-2022 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Michael is a PhD student in the UW Chemistry Department in the lab of Alexandra Velian.

Kate Sievers, 2021-2022 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Kate is a PhD student in the UW Civil & Environmental Engineering Department in the lab of Jessica Kaminsky.

Lane Smith, 2021-2022 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Lane is a PhD student in the UW Electrical & Computer Engineering Department in the lab of Daniel Kirschen.

FORMER

Brittany Bishop, 2020-2021 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Brittany was a PhD student in the UW Chemical Engineering Department in the lab of Vincent Holmberg. Brittany worked with WSAS to co-author a whitepaper on decarbonizing land uses.

Martin Brischetto, 2020-2021 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Martin was a PhD student in the UW Materials Science & Engineering Department in the lab of Jihui Yang. Martin worked with WSAS to co-author a whitepaper on decarbonizing land uses.

Laura Carlucci, 2020 UW Graduate Student fellow

Laura was a PhD candidate in Bioengineering at the University of Washington when she worked with WSAS to write a background paper on human gene editing. Laura has now graduated with her PhD and is a postdoctoral scholar.

Erica Eggleton, 2020-2021 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Erica was a PhD student in the UW Chemical Engineering Department in the lab of Dan Schwartz. Erica worked with WSAS to co-author a whitepaper on critical minerals in Washington State.

Miguel González-Montijo, 2020-2021 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Miguel was a PhD student in the UW Civil & Environmental Engineering Department in the lab of Richard Wiebe. Miguel worked with WSAS to co-author a whitepaper on decarbonizing aerospace.

Gabriel Ingman, 2019 Summer Intern

Gabriel Ingman is a recent graduate of Champlain College (VT) where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies with a minor in Business Administration. He is currently working with WSAS to organize and plan our 2019 annual Symposium.

Giang Le, 2020-2021 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Giang was a PhD student in the UW Chemical Engineering Department in the lab of Stuart Adler. Giang worked with WSAS to co-author a whitepaper on decarbonizing information and communication technology.

Yohan Min, 2020-2021 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Yohan was a PhD student in the UW Built Environment Department in the lab of Hyun-Woo “Chris” Lee. Yohan worked with WSAS to co-author a whitepaper on energy equity in Washington State.

Ben Mitchell, 2020-2021 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Ben was a PhD student in the UW Chemistry Department in the lab of Alexandra Velian. Ben worked with WSAS to co-author a whitepaper on energy equity in Washington State.

Nicholas Montoni, 2018 Summer Intern (see above for bio)

Sarah Pristash, 2020-2021 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Sarah was a PhD student in the UW Chemistry Department in the lab of Cody Schlenker. Sarah worked with WSAS to co-author a whitepaper on decarbonizing aerospace, as well as a whitepaper on energy equity in Washington State.

Eryn Rogers, 2018 Summer Intern

Erin Rogers is an undergraduate at Claremont McKenna College. She worked on our environmental projects including attending the Governor’s Task Force on Southern Resident Orcas and the Skagit Valley Water Supply Task Force.

Diana Settlemyer, 2018 Fall Intern (see above for bio)

Breena Sperry, 2020-2021 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Breena was a PhD student in the UW Materials Science & Engineering Department in the lab of Christine Luscombe. Breena worked with WSAS to co-author a whitepaper on critical minerals in Washington State.

Parker Steichen, 2020-2021 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Parker was a PhD student in the UW Materials Science & Engineering Department in the lab of Jihui Yang. Parkers worked with WSAS to co-author a whitepaper on decarbonizing land uses.

Gabriella Tosado, 2018 Summer Intern

Gabriella Tosado is a 4th year PhD student studying chemical engineering and developing new solar technologies who enjoys hiking reading fantasy novels. She used her expertise in nanotechnology to contribute to our AMoAM project as well as helped organize the 2018 annual meeting and research symposium. After she graduates, she hopes to continue working in a boundary spanning career to bring fact-based science to the policy realm.

Jonathan Witt, 2020-2021 UW Clean Energy Institute Torrance Science Policy Analyst

Jonathan was a PhD student in the UW Chemical Engineering Department in the lab of Stuart Adler. Jonathan worked with WSAS to co-author a whitepaper on decarbonizing information and communication technology.